The term is sometimes used to describe a crypt beneath a church, used for burial purposes. For example, there is a 14th century undercroft or crypt extant at Muchalls Castle in Scotland, even though the original chapel above it was destroyed in an act of war in 1746.
Undercrofts were commonly built in England and Scotland throughout the 13th and early 14th centuries. They occur in cities such as London, Chester and Southampton. The undercroft beneath the Houses of Parliament in London was rented out to the conspirators behind the Gunpowder Plot.
A modern use of the term is to describe the rooms alongside swimming pool tanks, below ground level, that carry filtration services and the like.
In modern apartment block housing developments, undercroft is used to describe the underground car parking that often occupies the footprint of the building (and sometimes extends to other service or garden areas around the development.
List of buildings with historic undercrofts
England
- Banqueting House, Palace of Whitehall, London
- Blakeney Guildhall, Blakeney, Norfolk
- Coventry Cathedral, Coventry, West Midlands
- Canterbury Cathedral, Canterbury, Kent
- Dragon Hall, Norwich, Norfolk
- Durham Castle, Undercroft, Durham City, Durham
- Eastbridge Hospital, Canterbury, Kent
- Forde Abbey, Dorset.
- Fountains Abbey, North Yorkshire
- Jurnet's House, Norwich, Norfolk
- Moyse's Hall Museum, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
- Norton Priory,Runcorn, Cheshire
- Rufford Abbey, Nottinghamshire
- St Nicholas Priory, Exeter, Devon
- St Pancras Station, London
- Westminster Abbey, London
- Wingfield Manor, Derbyshire
- York Minster, York, North Yorkshire
Ireland
Scotland
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Last updated on Sunday March 23, 2008 at 10:14:07 PDT (GMT -0700)
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